From the instant that they are born unwanted, their lives take the wrong turn and they find themselves, innocent, in a life sentence.

11/15/2013

În spatele gratiilor/ Behind bars/ Hinter Gittern

Please allow me to post this article both in Romanian and English, because it is suppose to reach those who are closest to this problem, the Romaian people. Thank you for your understanding! You can also read it in German and French.

I have recently been in
a public shelter in Romania. The idea of it shocked me, because, ever since this
madness of mass-killing the stray dogs has started, I couldn’t go inside the
public shelter of Moreni, for fear I would lose my mind. But I wanted to go to
that place to help have them all spayed or neutered.

I knew it will be close
to impossible for me to resist the temptation of hitting the dogcatchers in the
head with something, possibly with that bloody metal tongs they use to catch
dogs on the street. Still, I went there determined to get the job done. I also
made up a very naïve plan of trying to show those poor dogs as much kindness as
possible; I wanted them to know they are not alone, they are not useless and
that there is someone out there who loves them. I gave it my best, but most of
them were so crushed inside, that they didn’t react to anything. My words were
hitting the empty carcass of what once used to be a loving, trusting, intelligent
dog; all that was left was a bag of bones, a crushed spirit, an empty and
terrified look, in which I couldn’t read anything. Some of them showed me their
teeth; others withdrew back into a corner as soon as they felt the gentlest
touch, some even tried to bite me…all of them wanted to be left alone, they
wished everything was gone, us, them, the whole world. I loved seeing them
sleep after they were given the anesthetics, at least for an hour or two the
horror, the fear, the pain and the hunger would go away; for an hour or two,
there could still be hope for them to wake up inside a home and that everything
they had gone through would be just a bad dream. I watched them wake up, only
few of them were still happy to hear a gentle voice talking to them, but for
most of them, the horror restarted even before they were completely awake.

Spending those two and
a half days there made me realize, if necessary, that all that a dog gets once
he is in the hands of the authorities is violence, humiliation, a filthy kennel
and, if lucky, a handful of dry dog food thrown on the forever wet and dirty
concrete. They don’t deserve anything more decent that this, because they are “despicable
children eaters”. The only human interaction a dog ever gets once brought inside
a public shelter is through catch poles, metal tongs or kicks. Not to wonder
they reacted so poorly to my attempts of touching them; human touch equals pain
to them. To have them brought to the spay/neuter area, they had to be dragged
by their necks, just as if they were potatoes bags, then put inside small metal
crates, which were dragged around with brutality on the concrete, making
terrible noises. After that, because most of them were already terrified by
everything that was done to them, the catch pole had to be used again, to hold
them still while giving them the anesthetics. After the surgery, they were left
into bigger metal crates, until they woke up, after which they were dragged,
the same way, back to their kennels. I
don’t know if I could ever make you understand just how much despair and terror
their cries had in them and to how much pain and humiliation they are submit to
every day. They are surrounded by indifference and nothing can break through its
thick walls. First, I could see their desperation trying to escape that
horrible catch pole; they struggled and stumbled all the way back to the
kennel. But because no one could or would make it stop, they resigned
themselves to their sorrow. I can only tell you it is the most hopeless cry I
have ever heard in my entire life. A mix of high and low notes, which slowly
fade away, making you feel everything they had to endure since taken to this
terrible place. They scream just as any wounded animal would, but while
screaming, they understand it is all in vain and their voice is never to be
heard. All it’s left is for them to cry out their sorrow just as an orphan
child would, trying to comfort himself; at the end of the day, that’s all he’s
got.

Most of them were
walking skeletons, dirty, full of wounds and fleas. On their poor bodies, one
could easily see the daily torture they have to endure, for no other reason
than being born, without ever asking for it. The dogs’ distribution inside the
kennels is completely idiotic, at least from a normal person’s point of view;
actually, this is a strategy that the authorities use, just so they can spare
some “lethal injections”. Putting a small dog together with other 3-4 big dogs
makes it clear that small dog will hardly, if ever, get anything to eat. One
can’t accuse our politicians of wasting the public’s money. I asked the
dogcatchers, trying very hard to hide my disgust and anger towards them and
towards everything this government stands for, why can’t there be one or two
kennels populated with only small size dogs. The answer I got was “because we
can’t”. As simple as that!

I want to explain to
you, as much as I can, what does a catch pole represent in a public shelter dog’s
life (I think all beings could relate to that, actually). Seeing it approaching,
lets them know another typical human manifestation of violence is next (looks
like no public shelter in Romania is short on that, thank God!); they are then
scared to death until the loop is around their necks…it sometimes takes long
minutes before the dogcatchers succeed; then comes the choking. Even before
they are strangled, the dogs start to scream, to bite the air, their eyes get
bigger showing the terrible fear taking over, they start panting, their heart
is about to explode. But this is hardly enough, it’s only the beginning. If the
process of placing the pole around his neck takes too long and the dog manages
to escape the dogcatcher’s dexterity, he gets mad, becomes even more
determined, more brutal; sometimes, because the poor dog struggles so much to
escape, the loop gets tight around his mouth, chest or abdomen or the dog gets
his front legs twisted…but this doesn’t matter, the loop gets tight around them,
that’s what it was made for, after all. After that comes the choking. The
terror gets to the maximum, the dog continues to scream, he chokes, he suffocates,
he struggles, his panting gets even worse, he wets himself. But the dogcatcher
is never impressed with such things, this is just another regular day at work;
the loop is not going to loosen up, not because any of these things ever get
the dogcatchers to feel anything.

Moving or handling a
dog inside a public shelter gets done almost completely by using the catch
pole. Once caught, the dog is dragged behind the dogcatcher, no matter the
distance, no matter how hard or how they are caught in it, no matter how much
they scream or try to escape from it, with the same indifference and eagerness
as if they would drag a bag of cement. Because they know this is a difficult
process (thinking about their own effort that needs to be invested in it, not
about the pain and humiliation inflicted on the animal), the dogcatchers seem
completely detached of what is happening behind them; they only focus on the
main purpose. It is only another day at work.

I left there completely
heartbroken, disgusted, terrified. It is impossible for me to look around me
and understand how can people live so peacefully, how can there still be beauty
in this world, when inside the extermination camps of Romania there is so much
pain and suffering. Can’t we all live without inflicting pain on others,
especially on those who can’t defend for themselves? As a typical selfish human
being, I wanted to get away, to run back to my home, to get myself surrounded
by my family and two dogs and to forget everything I saw. I wanted to forget
the horrible things I saw inside that public shelter (I am sure all of them are
the same, if not worse), to forget that thousands of animals suffer horrendously
every minute of their lives. They don’t understand why; I saw it in their eyes,
besides the terror, always the same question “why?”. I can’t understand it
myself, can you?

Sadly, I have no solution
to save these poor animals from the greedy fangs of “people lovers”. Too many
of them have died already, too many of them are dead souls inside empty
carcasses, drained out by hunger and disease. Only few of them can still be
saved from this futile and barbaric suppressing. But I know we can put a stop
to this sinister joke (yes, joke, made at the expense of those idiots who still
believe that “humane euthanasia” will ever solve anything), at least in the
future, one closer than we might think. Spay/neuter your animals, ask for help
and organize spay/neuter campaigns in your town, talk to as many people as you
can and convince them to sterilize their animals, go to your Mayor and Council
members and try to convince them this is the only solution, donate or get funds
towards spay and neuter, make flyers, write articles, tattoo it on your
forehead. Mass sterilization of all stray and owned dogs is our only salvation.

Evil has to be cut down
from its roots, just as in every story of innocent blood sucking monsters. Even
though our bodies are not the ones bleeding, our souls need saving from eternal
damnation. At least let us still fear of that!

P. S. If anyone is wondering why we were there to spay/neuter them in such bad conditions, I can tell you that dogs breed anywhere, no matter how skinny or ill they are. If we could prevent anymore lives getting the same horrible treatment as they parents, than that is what had to be done. At least those poor dogs don't get tourmented by hormons and giving birth. Spay/ neuter is never useless, never miss directed, as long as it prevents other animals from living a life of torture.

5 comments:

Anda, I will finish reading your post tomorrow as it is nearly bedtime and my heart is hurting from what I have read so far. I believe 100% in spay/neuter as the solution to the stray animal population in Romania. However, I did wonder if there was no hope of these dear souls being adopted if it would have been kinder to gently put them to sleep, instead of them waking up to continue their torturous lives. I'm so desperately sorry for what is happening to beautiful animals in your country and I hope and pray daily that the brutality will end. I don't think the individuals who abuse these dear souls have even begin to understand the revulsion people, myself included, feel towards them and what they do, it is unforgivable and inexcusable.

Deborah, you are completely right, humane euthanasia would have been the best option for them, but it wasn't our decision to make, sadly. We did what we could to help them under the circumstances; and most of all, we prevented others from being born in that hell hole.

Who am I?

I am the leader of a small NGO for dogs in Romania and I have joined RAR's noble fight, because I believe only SPAY or NEUTER can solve Romania's stray dogs' issue. I have seen for myself the benefits both for the animals and for the communities. We can prevent more unwanted animals being born into a world that has no place for them. Neuter or spay! No more strays!